Looking at the items around me, I could finally figure something out.
"There is no doubt that the owner of this workshop is a mage, someone who seriously believed in Egyptian myths. And judging by all the items here, I don't know if this mage was extremely brave or absurdly stupid..."
"The idiot wanted to summon not one, but two [Heretic Gods]."
"His goal was to summon Seth, but the other God was not Horus, but..."
I paused as I looked at the various books that contained mention of a particular God.
"Anubis"
The props in this cave are extremely rare and precious. Even I could tell it would take centuries to put it all together.
Furthermore, the ritual is too glorious to summon a [Heretic God]. It would take decades of preparation and the sacrifice of many people.
There was no doubt that this cave belonged to a secret organization, and all this is the fruit of the efforts of several generations over centuries.
The invocation of Seth was already strange in itself. He was a God of War and Darkness and considered a true demon and enemy of Osiris, the God who brought civilization to Egypt.
But if we consider another point, Seth was also the protector of Amun-Ra, and every night he fought alongside Ra against the Serpent Apophis, the Serpent of Chaos that sought to consume the world.
The ancient Egyptians believed that dusk was when Ra would go to the Duat, the Underworld, to fight Apophis and that sunrise symbolized the victory of the Solar God.
But this was wrong. Despite being a God considered 'Supreme', several myths prove that Ra was not an all-powerful God.
When the Lion Goddess Sekhmet came down to Earth and attacked massacring humans, Ra tricked her so that he could stop her, having asked humans for help to do so, not trying to fight her.
Or, when the Goddess Isis sought Ra's true name, which carried a lot of power, she created a serpent that bit Ra's heel and caused the Supreme God to be in so much pain that he begged Isis to save him.
Most famously, it was a mistake in his myth. Ra was never responsible for defeating Apophis. Despite fighting the Serpent of Chaos, many Gods helped him, and the one responsible for defeating Apophis was precisely Seth.
In a way, Seth was more of a trickster than an evil demon.
His summoning could be explained. Although an Evil God, he was also essential to Egypt.
But for of all the Gods, to want to summon Anubis as well?
Maybe it was because of his myths? Anubis was the son of Nephthys, Seth's wife, but he was not the son of the God of Darkness.
According to myth, Seth had become very obsessed with dethroning his brother Osiris and ended up fighting with his wife.
Nephthys seduced Osiris to get revenge, slept with him, and ended up getting pregnant. In some other cases, it was Osiris who drew her.
From this act, not only was Anubis born, but it was also the point at which Seth became so hateful of his brother that he cut him into fourteen pieces and scattered him throughout Egypt.
Anubis was the God who ruled the Underworld, but he always supported Osiris and was always against Seth.
When Isis recovered the parts of Osiris, Anubis conducted the first mummification and became known as the God of Mummies. In addition, Osiris eventually descended to the Underworld.
Anubis voluntarily gave up his place to his father, Osiris became the King of the Underworld, and Anubis became a God of Death who guided the dead.
But the [Heretic God] that was summoned was certainly not Anubis. After leafing through some more books, I realized something. The magicians made a big mistake.
There was another mythology very closely related to Egypt, Greek mythology.
According to one myth, when the monstrous Typhon attacked Mount Olympus, all the Gods fled in terror, except Zeus.
To avoid being followed, the Gods assumed the form of animals. They fled to Egypt, which was the Greeks' explanation for the Egyptian Gods having the head of an animal.
Although Anubis was associated with the God Hermes, there was another Greek God who was his equivalent.
And that was Thanatos, the Greek Personification of Death.
Thanatos was the Greek God of Death. Death itself personified, and his duty was to guide the dead to the God of the Underworld, Hades, a similar role to what Anubis did with Osiris.
Of course, despite his being Death, there were several stories of how Thanatos was tricked and defeated.
Hercules defeated him with strength. The mortal Sisyphus tricked him into binding himself in his chains.
In mythology, despite being the personification of Death itself, he was passed over many times.
At this point, Anubis could be considered a much more respected God.
But besides this, there was also Horus.
In myths, Horus was always a great enemy of Seth and his greatest opponent, responsible for defeating and banishing the God of Darkness.
In one of their battles, Horus lost one of his eyes while Seth had his testicles destroyed by Horus.
I couldn't help but shudder, even for a God that must have hurt.
Probably attracted by Seth's manifestation, Horus came after his great enemy.
It was not something impossible. If I remember correctly, after the manifestation of a Dragon in the anime, the Serpent Slayer Hero Perseus manifested in response.
"But now it has come to this... the world of 'Campione' has an extremely fast way to become stronger, to reach the top of the world, to become a Campione, a God Slayer."
By killing a [Heretic God], you can become a Campione by stealing God's divine power.
The problem was that to do this. You had to kill a God first!
A human killing a god requires several factors. To begin with, it is a miracle on the same level as the birth of Christ. One needs to have ridiculously abnormal luck. Not only that. One must be a fool to attempt something impossible and possess an unshakable determination.
Power and wisdom mean nothing in front of a God, for no matter how strong or wise humans become, they could never Reach a God.
Every mortal in front of them is as insignificant as an ant.
But still, it's not an impossible feat.
"Those mages also had great ambitions. They also wished to kill the [Heretic Gods] and become Campione's..."
"However, judging from the results, these guys must have failed and been killed in the crossfire of the Gods."
I picked up one of the two artifacts that caught my attention. It was a metal tip with a small shaft, a spear tip that emitted an intense aura I could perceive.
If I was not mistaken, this was a fragment of the legendary [Spear of Longinus].
The mages probably wanted to use this fragment as a core for a ritual to try to kill a [Heretic God], but they failed.
My eyes went to the other item when I picked it up and recognized it.
According to myths, the Book of the Dead was a compilation of spells, prayers, hymns, and magic formulas that, according to Egyptian beliefs, guided the dead on their journey to the next world and helped them face the challenges encountered during their journey.
It was just a deduction, but I was sure this item was a [Grimoire].
[Grimoires] are ancient devices containing magic and magical wisdom and knowledge, the oldest of which is infused with the power and wisdom of a god.
Contrary to how they are commonly described, a Grimoire need not be a book. As the first of these predate books, many Grimoires have very different forms than widely thought—the earliest ones carved in stone or metal.
This was the case with the [Grimoire] in front of me, the Book of the Dead was written on papyrus and placed next to the deceased, but this was a stone tablet with the symbol of Ra and Maat, the Goddess of Justice.
The abilities of a Grimoire depend on the specific nature of the magic-infused into it. Prometheus, a trickster god, granted his Grimoire the power of Theft, allowing it to steal an Authority or spell from another god temporarily.
I would have to thank those later mages for leaving everything so prepared.
Becoming a Campione doesn't depend on wisdom or power. It can be high or low.
The greatest of the Knights may never scratch a god, but a foolish human may succeed in killing him.
Whether you use some strange objects or accept help matters little.
All that is necessary is to kill a God with your bare hands.
The smile that crossed my face could not be avoided.
After all ... only a fool would dare to defy a god.
Only a fool didn't understand the stupidity of trying to fight the inevitable.
And it was only a fool who laughed at Death.
But did that mean that I was not afraid?
Of course not! I was human ... and being afraid was a distinctly human characteristic.
We run from what we don't understand ... no ... being afraid was not only a human trait. It was a DEADLY trait!
Holding the [Grimoire] and the [Sacred Spear] fragment, I laughed and made up my mind.
I had only one chance, either I would reach Heaven or sink into Hell.
There was only one thing left to do.
"Now it's time to kill a God!"